NEW ACQUISITIONS
An Elamite Inscribed Brick
T
he Babylonian Section’s
newest acquisition, a
large baked brick with
a stamped inscription,
illuminates an era of social and
religious upheaval throughout the
ancient Near East. The inscription
is a standard one that celebrates
Untash-Napirisha, king of Elam, in
what is now Southwest Iran, from ca.
1275–1240 BCE. As translated, it
reads (following Dan Potts [1999]):
“I, Untash-Napirisha, son of
Humban-Numena, king of Anshan
and Susa, desirous that my life be
continually one of prosperity, that
the extinction of my lineage not be
granted when it shall be judged (?),
with this intention I built a temple of
baked bricks, a high temple of glazed
bricks; I gave it to the god Inshushinak of the Sacred Precinct. I raised
a ziggurat. May the work which I
created, as an offering, be agreeable to
Inshushinak!”
The provenance of the brick is
unknown, but Untash-Napirisha
built ziggurats at both Susa, the
traditional capital of Elam, and at a
new foundation he named “City of
Untash-Napirisha” (modern Choga
Zanbil). Both were built of mud
brick with an outer layer of baked
bricks. Every 11th row of outer bricks
was stamped with an inscription.
These were in the Elamite language,
but written using Mesopotamian cuneiform. Only the few scribes would
have been able to read them.
The brick
measures
14.5 X 14.0 X 3.5
inches and weighs
34 pounds. UPM
Object #2013-23-1.
Both ziggurats were originally
dedicated to Inshushinak, patron
god of Susa. However, at his new
capital, the king soon changed his
plans. Like many other monarchs in
the Late Bronze Age Near East, he
ruled an increasingly complex state
with age-old traditions that often
impeded administrative innovation.
Specifically, he struggled to integrate
the highland region of Anshan into
a kingdom centered on the Susiana
Plain. Although his new city was in
the lowlands, he provided it with
shrines to the major gods from all
parts of his kingdom. Most dramatically, he tore down his first ziggurat
there and replaced it with a much
more ambitious one that became the
largest such structure built in the
ancient Near East. He then dedicated
it to both Inshushinak and Napirisha,
chief god of the highlands of Anshan.
Untash-Napirisha’s success in creating a new focal point for his kingdom
is debatable. Elamite unity and power
would be a feature of Near Eastern politics over the next century and a half, but
the gravitational pull of the old capital
proved too strong. After the death of its
founder, the City of Untash-Napirisha
was virtually abandoned.
The brick was a gift of Tenley M.
and Rouyan V. Jones.
—Philip Jones, Associate Curator and
Keeper of Collections, Babylonian Section
EXPEDITION Winter 2014
59